A closer look at Florida Constitutional Amendment 1

Excerpt from 1885 Florida Constitution. Photo edited and used with permission. Credit: State Archives of Florida.

About this Florida Phoenix series: Florida voters could face a whopping twelve different proposed amendments to the state Constitution on Nov. 6 – one of the longest lists ever. The amendments cover a wild ride of subjects, including complex changes to tax policy, banning offshore oil drilling and greyhound racing, expanding gambling, automatically restoring voting rights for ex-felons, setting new rules on lobbying, and even whether Florida should ban vaping in public places.

Even more challenging is that some of the amendments “bundle” several different ideas into one, meaning voters might be forced to vote for a thing they don’t like in order to approve something they want, or vice versa. (Plus, three of the amendments are mired in a legal challenge that’s before the Florida Supreme Court.)

It’s confusing, and the Phoenix is going to try in the coming days to briefly lay out all these amendments for you, explain what they will do, and tell you who supports it and who opposes it.

Amendment 1: Increased Homestead Property Tax Exemption

Ballot summary: “Proposing an amendment to the State Constitution to increase the homestead exemption by exempting the assessed valuation of homestead property greater than $100,000 and up to $125,000 for all levies other than school district levies. The amendment shall take effect January 1, 2019.”

What it’s about:

This is one of those issues that sounds simple and great for homeowners: Who wouldn’t want to get an exemption to lower their property tax bills?

But Amendment 1 has turned out to be controversial, with critics saying hundreds of millions of dollars could potentially be lost for local government services (such as police departments and libraries) if voters approve it.

The Florida Association of Counties estimates the potential lost revenues at $753-million — impacting cities, counties and other taxing boards — and that’s only for the first year if the Amendment passes.

So voters will be weighing the impact of getting a property tax break — even if it’s a couple hundred dollars — against the consequences of potentially lost revenues for public services.

Homeowners already get exemptions to shave off some of their property tax bills. The popular homestead exemptions go back decades as a way to keep the tax burden low for homeowners, particularly during tough times.

Right now, the first $25,000 of a home’s value is exempt from all property taxes. A second exemption of $25,000 applies to a home’s value between $50,000 and $75,000. That second exemption impacts revenues from many local taxes, but doesn’t affect school taxes.

Amendment 1 goes even further: It would allow another $25,000 exemption for home values between $100,000 to $125,000.

That will essentially allow a total of $75,000 in deductions for homes valued at $125,000 or more, according to the League of Women Voters of Florida, which is tracking the Constitutional Amendments on the Nov. 6 ballot.

That new exemption in Amendment 1 also won’t affect schools.

Who’s for it:

Homeowners looking for a break on their property taxes; lawmakers who approved the legislation in the spring of 2017 to create the new $25,000 exemption that would be placed on the ballot – though the legislative vote wasn’t unanimous.

Who’s against it:

A long list of public interest groups, including the League of Women Voters of Florida; the Florida Policy Institute; Florida League of Cities; Florida Education Association and the Florida Association of Counties.

The Florida Association of Counties says on its website: “The state is offering a ‘tax cut’ out of the pocketbooks of local communities rather than their own. It may be called a ‘tax cut’ but for many it will be a ‘tax hike’ as business owners, apartment dwellers, and others will likely pay more.”

Other key points:

A chief concern is that if voters approve the measure to get a tax break, it could end up backfiring, because local governments may try to raise taxes to cover the losses from the exemptions. Or, local governments could reduce services to make up for the lost revenue.

Diane Rado has covered state and local government and public schools in six states over some 30 years, focusing on policy and investigative stories as well as legislative and political reporting. She spent most of her career at the St. Petersburg (Tampa Bay) Times and the Chicago Tribune. She has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and did a fellowship in education reform at the University of Michigan in 1999-2000. She is married to a journalist and has three adult children.

9 COMMENTS

If I understand correctly, amendment 1 will only apply to homes with a current assessment (not original purchase price, right?) between $100,000 and $125,000. For towns like White Springs, this will impact their tax base dramatically. For towns like Neptune Beach, I suspect it won’t impact their tax base one iota, since there are no homes in that price bracket, at least not assessed value. For cities like Jacksonville or Tampa, I’m guessing there are few homes in that price range. It seems to me that this amendment would likely help homeowners who need it the most, though I’m not sure how the White Springs or our state will cope until gentrification raises their property values.

I myself misread it at first. Also anyone assessed less than 100,000 get no tax break at all. 100,000-125,000 get a % of the 25,000. And anyone with 125,000 or over gets the full 25,000. The danger is increase other taxes to pay for the police, library, parks and whatever else. Or cut the police force. Hmmmm, who is going to watch our children in school then? And why give millionaires another tax break but very poor who are struggling no tax break at all? I think this is the very rich trying to entice the middle class with a slice of cheese to make the rich wealthier and the poor poorer even if it’s on a small scale. Next will probably be a tax code aimed at the middle class to fort the bill to pay for the police department. Lord knows we are going to need them. I will not be enticed, keep your damn cheese, I’m voting no.

I myself misread it at first. Also anyone assessed less than 100,000 get no tax break at all. 100,000-125,000 get a % of the 25,000. And anyone with 125,000 or over gets the full 25,000. The danger is increase other taxes to pay for the police, library, parks and whatever else. Or cut the police force. Hmmmm, who is going to watch our children in school then? And why give millionaires another tax break but very poor who are struggling no tax break at all? I think this is the very rich trying to entice the middle class with a slice of cheese to make the rich wealthier and the poor poorer even if it’s on a small scale. Next will probably be a tax code aimed at the middle class to fort the bill to pay for the police department. Lord knows we are going to need them. I will not be enticed, keep your damn cheese, I’m voting no.

“Amendment 1 would provide for a homestead exemption on the portion of assessed home values between $100,000 and $125,000, meaning the $25,000 between $100,000 and $125,000 of a home’s value would be exempted from property taxes other than school district taxes. As of 2018, Section 6(a) of Article VII of the Florida Constitution provides for a homestead exemption on the portion of assessed home values between (a) $0 and $25,000 and (b) $50,000 and $75,000.[1] If voters approve Amendment 1, the homestead exemption for a home assessed at a value of $200,000 would be $75,000. If voters reject Amendment 1, the homestead exemption for a home assessed at a value of $200,000 would remain at $50,000”
Where are these Rich People you speak of ??

Lillian, your statement that anyone with an accessment of under 100,000 get no tax break at all is a bit under explained. Don’t leave out the fact that anyone who falls into that group is already getting a tax break equivelant to AT LEAST 50%.

The Proposed Amendment 1 is confusing to many people unless you research the details. It seems many of this years amendments are written in a fashion to make them appear they are something different than the casual reader believes.
It is true this amendment will only give the full benefit to homes assessed at $125,000 or more and help those assessed between $100,000 to $125,000 only by the amount above $100,000 to their full assessment. Ie: if assessed at $115,000 they get a $15,000 exemption.
While you can argue it is helping only those with homes assessed above $125,000 these are hardly only the wealthy.
One thing I like is this will require cities and counties to review their spending and if they believe they need more money to fund their budgets they will need to have public meetings to increase the millage rate or maybe current some fat from their budgets. Before the housing crash many cities and counties when on unnecessary spending sprees because they had money left over in their budgets due to rapid increases in values. It would have been much better in many cases (IMO) to return those extra funds to the public in the form of lower taxes the following year. All Public officials should be required to defend the need to increase expenditures.

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